Peepers Are Loud

March 23, 2010.  Tuesday.

Situation:  Early this morning I hear the jazz bird outside our windows, so-called because of the somewhat be-bop cadence to its song.  Moi and I some time ago did figure out, as she recently reminded me, that the bird making this sound is a chickadee.  I work this afternoon, and take Mway out for her walk around 5.  It is cool enough today to wear my denim jacket.

State of the Path:  I see spots of rain on the sidewalk, but as I continue along I find that it’s only drizzling outside.  The chickens come strutting over to me as I walk down the steps, and follow me back down the sidewalk.  Mway ignores them, but she does venture into the chicken cage, and I have to yell at her to get out of there.  We take the side path along the orchard, and I look for the little white flowers Moi pointed out yesterday, but I don’t see them.   There are some birds out – a sparrow by the hedgerow – but they are not very loud today.  The spring peepers – which you can hear as soon as you step in the back yard – are the dominant sound today.  Although there’s no sign of water on the ground in the upper part of the field, except what’s in the mud, there’s still a little water trickling into bug land from the area around the maples.

State of the Creek:  At the corner of our property, I see, over on Hutchinson’s land below the power lines, what I believe are a number of skunk cabbages.  They are just beyond the wire fence on the bank of the creek.  I think about crossing the creek to inspect them more closely, but I don’t because of the pathetic state of my boots.  My feet are now getting wet as I walk along the ridge along bug land, where the ground is very soggy these days, even before I reach the soggy area on the other side of the ridge.  The peepers are squeaking loudly in the pond between the ridges, and it seems to me I hear a bird in the trees along the creek trying to imitate their sound – a mockingbird perhaps?  It is gray out today, and hard to see what birds might be in the trees.

The Fetch:  Up in the clearing, Mway awaits me with a smile, even coming back down the path a little to urge me toward the clearing.  4 fetches – good enough; after all, her life is pretty much the same whether she makes 4 or 10 fetches.